Japanese Mobile Market User Needs and Trends, 2008 - Usage Segment Analysis

SUMMARY

Guideline

Mobile market consist of the following four factors:

• 1. Players who provide mobile services,
• 2. Mobile users,
• 3. Related regulations,
• 4. Mobile technologies.

The purpose of this report is to recognize and analyze user needs and to indicate the future direction of the market. As for research and analysis methods, a survey was conducted via internet, targeting users who are registered as a monitoring customer of Livedoor in Japan (January 2008). ROA Group conducted independent analysis based on the survey results.

Analysis Process & Method

The following explains the process flow of this report.

• Overall analysis on Japan's mobile market
  • Identifying major events of the mobile carriers.
• Extraction of current trends
  • Finding out popular services or others which will influence the market.
• User survey on key topics
  • Studying usage styles by conducting a survey (targeting users who are registered as monitoring customers of Livedoor Japan).
• Analysis and segmentation on ACD with independent tools
  • ROA Group adds its perspective and analysis to the survey results, segment users and classifies user needs.
• Implication
  • Predicting the future direction of market, considering user needs, players' strategies and market trends.

Analysis Tool

Mobile Services and Functions Category

By categorizing convergence services, specific analysis tools are obtained for identifying user needs.

Segmentation based on Mobile Service Usage Styles

Based on the service usage styles, users are divided into the following 4 groups. By analyzing the characteristics and styles of each group, we can predict their service usage in the future.

ACD Analysis Tool

• Category Classification
  • For an objective analysis on services and handset functions, the report categorizes them first with independent methods of ROA Group and then conducts analysis on relations between them and future trends.
• Segmentation
  • Users are divided into groups, following their specific usage styles. ROA Group analyzes characteristics and styles of each segment. This method helps identifying marketing targets when establishing business strategies.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Executive Summary

• 1-1. Guideline
• 1-2. Analysis Process & Method
• 1-3. Analysis Tool

II. Japanese Mobile Market Trends in 2008

• 2-1. Mobile Market Environment
• 2-2. Main Events in the Market
• 2-3. Trends by Category
  • 2-3-1. Communication
  • 2-3-2. Information
  • 2-3-3. Entertainment
  • 2-3-4. Community
  • 2-3-5. Shopping
  • 2-3-6. Finance

III. Mobile Handset Usage Analysis

• 3-1. End User Survey Overview
• 3-2. Market Segmentation
• 3-3. Simple User Group
• 3-4. Benefit Oriented User Group
• 3-5. Free Entertainment User Group
• 3-6. Multitask User Group

List of Tables and Figures

List of Tables

• Table 1. Mobile Users (as of December 2007)
• Table 2. Trends by Category

List of Figures

• Figure 1. Movements of Mobile Carriers in 2007 and 2008
• Figure 2. Pictograph Comparison of 3 Carriers
• Figure 3. E-mail Market Growth (2004-2006)
• Figure 4. SoftBank TV Call Image
• Figure 5. Mobile Commerce Market Growth (2003-2006)
• Figure 6. Respondents by Age and Gender
• Figure 7. Respondents by Occupation
• Figure 8. Four User Groups by Amount Spent on Mobile Services
• Figure 9. Simple Users by Gender
• Figure 10. Simple Users by Occupation
• Figure 11. Simple Users by Subscription
• Figure 12. Simple Users by Carrier
• Figure 13. Simple Users by Data Flat-Rate
• Figure 14. Simple Users by SNS and Device
• Figure 15. Simple Users by Online Shopping and Device
• Figure 16. Simple Users by eBook and Device
• Figure 17. Benefit Oriented Users by Gender
• Figure 18. Benefit Oriented Users by Occupation
• Figure 19. Benefit Oriented Users by Ad Usage
• Figure 20. Amount Used on Mobile Shopping
• Figure 21. Users by Place of Usage
• Figure 22. Mobile Payment Experience
• Figure 23. Intention to Use 1-Seg Data
• Figure 24. Free Entertainment Users by Gender
• Figure 25. Free Entertainment Users by Occupation
• Figure 26. Money Spent on eBook
• Figure 27. Genre of eBooks
• Figure 28. Place Where Users Read eBooks

List of Figures

• Figure 29. SNS Usage and Frequency
• Figure 30. Game Playing
• Figure 31. Future Intention to Play Games
• Figure 32. Handset's 1-Seg Compatibility
• Figure 33. GPS Usage
• Figure 34. Mobile Payment Usage
• Figure 35. Multitask Users by Gender
• Figure 36. Multitask Users by Occupation
• Figure 37. Multitask Users by Mobile Carrier
• Figure 38. New Handset Purchase Frequency
• Figure 39. Intention to Buy Smartphone
• Figure 40. Mobile Search Usage and Frequency of Use
• Figure 41. Game Usage of Multitask Users
• Figure 42. eBook Usage of Multitask Users
• Figure 43. SNS Usage of Multitask Users